Heartbreaker in Battle Creek

With every kill, every game and every match, the Mendon volleyball team grew as a unit this year.

On Friday afternoon, that growth, at least for this season, came to an end.

"I don't ever want to feel like this again," Mendon's Loryn Baughman said after the team's semifinal loss to Beal City at Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek.

The thought was echoed among the team as the Lady Hornets ended their season, falling 3-1 to Beal City. The Lady Hornets had stormed their way to Battle Creek, fueled by a tremendous crowd in every single match they played. That energy was matched by the team each time they took the floor.

During the MHSAA playoffs Mendon hadn't lost a single game until Friday. All the intensity finally came to an end, but the Lady Hornets certainly went out fighting.

Yes, reaching the Final Four was definitely a goal for this team when the season began, but many left Kellogg Arena unsatisfied with the outcome.

"I thought we came into the match real nervous and we couldn't shake it," Mendon head coach Kathy Trenary said. "I think it was the whole atmosphere and we couldn't relax and find that point of relaxing but also playing hard. We just couldn't control our emotions and play our game, which was unfortunate."

Trenary has won three state titles as the head coach of Mendon, so losing on the brink of playing for another one certainly stings. Yet, she also understands that losing is part of the game. Her team, albeit not wanting to let go of the special season they had built just yet, understood that too.

"Obviously we wanted to win state, but to get where we got, I am absolutely honored," lone senior Amanda Lovell said after Friday's match. "I couldn't be happier than to have played with this group of girls. It was a great season."

Much like Trenary spoke of in regards to nerves, Lovell agreed it had something to do with Friday's match.

Beal City seemed to be able to harness theirs while Mendon was unable to capitalize.

"I think the nerves got to us and they (Beal City) were able to calm down and stay focused on what they needed to do in order to get the job done," she said. "They serve/received and passed well, which definitely helped them."

This will be Beal City's first time in the state finals.

Head coach Kelley David played in the state semifinals for Beal City a few years ago and is in the first year guiding the program as its coach.

"It's a pretty neat experience, I lucked out having a really good group to start off with," David said. "They've been working really hard and I'm really proud of them. It makes it really fun for my first year."

Mendon won the opening game, 25-15. It was close at 16-13, but Mendon was able to take control of the game and get one leg up in the match.

After the game, Beal City's players looked a bit concerned, but were able to channel those emotions and come out firing in the second game. They led a tight one early, but pulled away to win a convincing 25-13 second game.

"The girls were nervous in the first game and this is an environment they've never been in," David said. "After the first game the nerves were gone and we really came hard in the second game. We kept pushing and that's what we needed to do. We played really well today."

The Lady Aggies won the third game 25-21 and earned a spot in the finals with a 25-17 win in the fourth and final game.

"They (Beal City) played all-around more relaxed and they made smart decisions," Baughman said. "We had some pivotal errors and it just wasn't our day."

Mendon junior Alexis Russell agreed with Baughman.

"Honestly, I think today we never really made it to playing our style of game," Russell said. "If we had played the way we love to play, we'd have been fine. But we weren't able to find that today and it cost us the game."

As angry and upset as they were to have come so far and lost, the Lady Hornets still know this was a special season. They finished with 48 wins and lost only seven matches. Yet, the one and final loss in that record is the one that will hurt the most.

They all agreed that the hurt will push them even harder coming into the next volleyball season.

"We had high expectations wanting to make it here this year," junior Brooke Howard said. "I feel like if we come back next year this will push us to make it even farther. We need to look back at this and learn from it."

Trenary, who has been on the good and bad side of playing in Battle Creek, confirmed to her players that it wasn't going to be easy. They know it won't, but the experience of playing in the Final Four certainly will help.

"Being here, for the kids that come back next year is big," Trenary said. "It may take one time to get used to the atmosphere here, so that's good. This loss will sting and they will remember it. But, we can use that as energy to move forward."

The energy was there all season and especially in the playoffs. Mendon routinely played with a lot of emotion and that helped them win several matches along the way.

There were even glimpses of that energy bursting through in Friday's semifinal, but in the end, Beal City played tough enough in key spots to win.

David said she was proud of her team and gave a lot of credit to Mendon. However, the Beal City team now knows that they have to forget about Friday's win and re-group to play in the finals today.

"This is an amazing experience, we've never had a girl's team get to the finals," David said of her squad. "It's an honor to come here to Battle Creek. We knew that if we won this game, we'd be making history for our school and that was big for us."

The win pushes the Lady Aggies to play Battle Creek St. Philip today in the finals.

St. Phil has won six straight state championships and has been in the final match 12 straight seasons.

The last time St. Phil didn't play in the state finals was Mendon's last volleyball championship in 2001. That year, Trenary's group defeated Adrian Lenawee Christian.

Lovell, in her final match for Mendon, finished with 11 kills, 21 digs and five blocks. Howard had a team-high 14 kills, adding 11 digs and four blocks. Russell had eight kills and seven blocks while Jordan VanOss had four kills and 12 digs. Cierra Furlong and Baughman both had one kill. Baughman tossed out 35 assists while Jackie Friel had 14 digs and led the team with four aces.

Trenary isn't ready to guarantee her Hornets will be back in Battle Creek this same time next year, but she knows they are going to put in the work to make a great effort in trying to get to Kellogg Arena again.

"They get the message right now," Trenary said from the interview room on Friday. "Living with this for a year — that's not fun. Many of them will be heading into basketball and that will help. But coming back next year, we don't need to say much. They have a lot of determination to be at the top. They won't forget this."